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Clarification on profiles vs materials

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 8:45 am
by Robpardee
I have been using Simplify 3D for a couple weeks with my new Prusa i3 MK3 and I really like it allot. I can get some really good results with it which is excellent but I am wondering if I am just missing something in the way you change settings. I was under the impression that when you choose a profile, i.e Prusa MK3 it loads the saved Filament types you have saved to that profile. No problem, but the question I have is about those different filament types. Between the 5 types I will be using (PLA, ABS, PETG, Flexible, Wood) they all vary in settings like speed and retraction that don't seem to stay specific to the filament selection. As far as I have been able to figure out the only way to save those types of settings to a specific filament is to create a whole new printer profile with just one filament type in that profile. I would think that every adjustable setting option should be tied to the filament type so once you dial in one type of filament it stays unaltered as you switch between filament types. I guess my question is; is it possible to have the settings for each filament, once dialed in for that specific filament, stay set for that filament type only, or am I stuck manually changing the speed from 80mm/s for PLA to 50mm/s for PETG everytime I switch filament?
Hopefully this makes sense, Thanks!

Re: Clarification on profiles vs materials

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 2:36 am
by rrdavis
Well to start, I found this video useful for explaining the general process of making material configurations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFynhtvPBPQ

The software automatically chooses some of the common settings you want to change when you setup a new material. For example, temperatures, fan speeds, etc. If you want to add more (like retractions or speeds that you mentioned), then just click File > Export FFF Profile, open that file in a text editor, and add whatever settings you want to adjust into each of the <autoConfigureMaterial> sections at the bottom. Then save and re-import into the software. You only have to do this once, and after that, you can just edit the speeds and retractions in the software and they will be automatically saved to the material configurations. So you can customize it as needed.

There are tons of other threads on the forum explaining how to do this in more detail if you still need help.

Re: Clarification on profiles vs materials

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 9:57 am
by Robpardee
Wow, Thank you I will give that a try. I appreciate that allot, I kept googling and was unable to find this information.

I have one other quick question, when I look a t my simplify3D sliders to adjust things like Infill all I have is a tiny slider that is a bit tough to click on quickly due to it's size. Is this something that is a glitch or what?
You can see it in this image pretty well:
https://imgur.com/a/x8msL

Thank you again!

Re: Clarification on profiles vs materials

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 9:26 pm
by Robpardee
I got this figured out, I would never have figured out that his was possible w/o your suggestion, rrdavis. Thanks again! I got it setup so each material allows me to adjust retraction, speed and a few other variables.